308 V12 conversion begins

It was funny and right....best to leave that project until the car is done and out of the shop.

I still need to finish cleaning up.....and there is a lot to clean up. It breaks my heart to chuck stuff that's sitting on the shelf new but if it's on the shelf becasue I don't actually need it and it isn't worth putting on ebay I don't see the point in keeping it....and I need the shelf space. I have cans of spray paint I know I bought to paint the chassis parts of a corvette in about 1984, 1985 at the lastests. The rest of the chain and bits from lights I put up when we moved into this house 5+ years ago? The hardware I removed from the garage doors to install the openers? 400i parts? I have a lot of just plain junk on my shelves.


I couldn't bring myself the chuck the life jackets, padel, anchor, bilge pump, marine transmision, water skis and roll of boat carpet I found that I've been saving just incase I actually do build a boat someday....although I would most likely buy all new if the day ever actually comes

I've also learned that it is simply impossible for me to put all my tools away at the same time becasue there is just flat no way they will all fit in the tool box at one time. Lana approved a second tool box. I need to look for the keys to the boxes I already have too as little Victor likes to play with anything he finds in a drawer. My father had all his good tools in the truck of his car for 40 year to keep us out of them....that seems a bit extreme and I think that as long as I keep all the tools that open locks locked I'll be ok for the next few years at least.


Another few hours and I should be back to the heads.

 

Just when I thought I was about done cleaning up turned horribly wrong yesterday afternoon so there will be a slight delay..........while I sandblast the black spray paint off of what is supposed to be light yellow/beige stucco on the (highly visable) side of the house and I guess sand it off the what is supposed to be a white vinyl window frame.


.…..don’t ask, but obviously Lana was not amused.

 

Here you go.

The sandblaster seems to be working pretty well and luckily about 1/2 I was standing there so about 1/2 the paint ended up on me instead of the house. Not so luckily the last project of the fall was to remove the plants that would have block most of the rest of it were they still there. Back to cleaning.
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That’s beautiful! If only it wasn't the side of the house Lana (and everyone else) sees when they drive into the development.



Here’s how it actually turned out. Not quite as good as the photoshop but not too bad. It’s frikin cold out today BTW.

I also took some time to build a very sophisticated machine to allow old cans that don’t spray but I know are full to be de-pressurized at a time and place of my choosing instead unexpectedly of all over me and the house. No more old paint cans.

Time to go wash the sand off of me….I just hate sandblasting.
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Victor eating sand tonigh...does that count as helping clean up?

I think everyone will be glad to know that even though the basement is still quite a mess I've now completely lost interest in cleaning.....I need to weld or grind something.

 

Ok. Fine.
I was cleaning out the basement like I told you and as I stepped out of the house to put out the trash I was attack by muggers. This caught me completely of guard because it was still several days before the welfare checks come out and what kind of mugger would try to rob someone before they get their check? Things like that just don’t happen in my neighborhood. Anyway, I’d left my shotgun was inside the door so I just reached for the first thing I could grab which turned out to be a spray can and I think “Prefect!” and as the mugger tries to stab me I slam the paint can onto the end of the knife thinking the paint will spray back and blind him and his buddy and I reached for a second can. The problem was that the first can did its job and caused the mugger to drop the knife with the can still spraying everywhere painting me and the poor house. I should have known anyone stupid enough to rob someone before the checks come out would also be stupid enough to drop the knife…… there are almost no limits to my stupidity at times.

 

I aready told you what the was

Or invert the can and spray until it sprays clear like the instructions on the can say to do

 

I set up and started moving the guide holes tonight. Not that exciting, but it's what I've got. There will be a lot of this kind of stuff in the coming weeks....but than spray paint on the house I guess and if you look closely at 1st pic in the mid-left you can see my new sink and in the lower right you can see that I never did get the pile of metal picked up
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Well what do you do with a spray paint can you either have no use for or doesn’t work? An empty can is pretty safe but what do you do with full cans? I live out in the middle of nowhere and I’m pretty sure we don’t have a place that would knowingly accept that kind of thing. If you just throw it in the trash it could explode paint all over the trash guys, cause a fire, or a problem for them at the landfill if the operator sees paint dripping and can cause contamination issues if it ends up buried.

Problems with people throwing cans of paint in the trash is one of the main reasons oil based paints are becoming illegal to sell in many places and I hate to be a part of that problem. With old paint I normally just paint something like a tarp and let it dry so it’s pretty inert and safe to go in the trash. You can’t do this if you can’t open the can so what to do when wifey says leaving it sit on the shelf until you die is not an acceptable answer and you don’t live in a place where you can use them for skeet shooting?

 

No, that’s all hazardous waste and they don’t allow that stuff on the premises at the land fill. Some towns (not mine, but we have pretty low taxes so… ) have annual collection days. I’m out in the country so waste oil goes to one of the ½ dozen places I pass on the way to work with signs asking for it (I’m guessing they have waste oil furnaces), the junk yard guy LOVES when you drop off batteries….most stuff has a home that is easy to find, but spray paint cans are a problem until you put them in my fancy machine (the bucket covered with a plastic bag) where they are converted into plain old empty paint cans that go in the trash.